The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to “expeditiously review” and evaluate new scientific information on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water.
The EPA made the announcement on April 7 in Utah, where state administrators signed a ban on fluoridation last month.
“Without prejudging any outcomes, when this evaluation is completed, we will have an updated foundational scientific evaluation that will inform the agency’s future steps to meet statutory obligations under the Safe Drinking Water Act,” announced EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
Also at the EPA announcement was new U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who told media of his upcoming plan to advise the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stop recommending fluoridation for drinking water in communities.
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Zeldin noted at the media event that RFK Jr. was “instrumental” in the agency’s decision to undertake the new scientific evaluation.
While the CDC can make recommendations, any final decision on fluoridation will be left up to state lawmakers. Recently, Ohio, South Carolina and Florida have proposed restrictions on fluoridated water. Currently, CDC data suggests that three-quarters of Americans get fluoridated water from the tap.
In Canada, the City of Montreal recently ceased fluoridation at the Pointe-Claire and Dorval water treatment plants. It’s a change that affects more than 143,000 people in Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield, Kirkland, Baie-D’Urfé, Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Dorval. City officials told the public that the decision to stop fluoridation was to maintain a consistency of approach given that fluoridation doesn’t occur elsewhere in Montreal. The water department also put forth complex technical arguments around the challenges of safely applying the additive.
Elsewhere in Canada, the City of Regina is currently reviewing its on-and-off relationship with fluoride after a newly-elected councillor raised health concerns based on new studies.
One of those new studies, published by The National Toxicology Program (NTP) in August 2024, was also cited by the EPA at the recent press event. That study concluded with “moderate confidence” that fluoride exposure above 1.5 milligrams per litre is associated with lower IQ in children. Often missed in that discussion, however, is that most U.S. communities that would have such elevated fluoride levels are the result of natural occurrences, not fluoride as an additive to a local drinking water supply. This represents about 0.6% of the U.S. population, according to the NTP report.
Health Canada currently recommends 0.7 milligrams per litre as an optimal level of fluoride in drinking water.
The current U.S. National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations set by the EPA is 2.0 milligrams of fluoride per litre, with a maximum allowable concentration of 4.0 milligrams of fluoride per litre.
